The North Face

Ski Mountaineer | Kristoffer Erickson

Kris "E-Clarkus" Erickson frequently jokes about being the invisible man, because there are very few photos of him carving turns into a 13,000-foot peak. That’s not because he is taking the easy way down a slope after a tough climb; it’s because he is the unseen guy, on the chin-scraping slope, behind the camera lens. For 10 years, Kris Erickson has brought his camera to the highest points, coldest reaches, and most untouched folds of the planet’s geography.

Learn more about Kristoffer Erickson.

Jun 20 | From Base Camp

By Kris Erickson

We arrived at base camp Tuesday, all happy to have finally reached our staging ground for GII. Unfortunately, 16 loads of our gear is still yet to arrive. Included in that gear is the majority of our camera, computer, and satellite communications equipment, some of our personal gear, most of our base camp cooking fuel, and all of our high altitude fuel canisters. These loads were last accounted for Monday.

Every day we wait anxiously, hoping that they will arrive. At this point we have enough fuel to stay in base camp for one week. Our local liaison, Karim, left Thursday to hike down the glacier and account for the missing gear. We hope that he returns soon so that we can put all of our energy towards the objective ahead of us - climbing and skiing GII.

In the meantime, we have begun the initial stages of our climb. On Thursday, we wanded a route through the ice fall. The weather has turned overnight and we awoke this morning to one and a half feet of new snow.

We hope to send another dispatch soon but will be out of communication until we recover our missing gear.

-Kris Erickson

Jun 17 | End of the Road

By Kris Erickson

- Kris Erickson

Jun 06 | Pakistan Living

By Kris Erickson

Eleven years ago I first visited Pakistan, I was twenty-three years old and had just graduated from university. For all practical purposes my life had been mostly sheltered from the ways of life outside my small town Montana upbringing and visiting Pakistan for the first time provided a glimpse into how a huge portion of the world lived. When I arrived in 1997 my eyes were open to a culture I had read about but never imagined contain such striking contrast to the West. Aside from the countless journey’s over the Canadian border near to my home I had no way of exposing myself to this world and an expedition to the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan proved nothing like climbing in Canada. Drastically different with voices of Urdu in the streets and the call to prayer being broadcast from one of thousands of mosques at 4 in the morning, I knew from the first moment I walked out of the airport the East would be enchanting beyond anything I had ever been exposed to.

Now 2008 is upon us and the country of Pakistan is rife with turmoil in the political arena, it is infested with Al Quaida insurgents along the border with Afghanistan and most recently struggling to feed it’s population with rising food costs. Strangely, from a visual appearance here in the capital of Islamabad, life actually seems to be better for the people of Pakistan. On the surface I have a hard time believing there was a major bombing at the Danish embassy last week as the order of the country seems peaceful with improvements dominating the views. Building and construction seems abundant with new roads around the capital, workers and new heavy machinery paving the way for a continued modernization. Is this a benefit to a select few here in the newly built capital or across the country are the citizens of Pakistan seeing an improved way of life? Not unlike the urban areas of the western world where standards of living are higher for most, the rural communities hold the true glimpse of life often with less. My guess is not all see the benefits as the average Pakistani living outside the capital struggles to simply live and find a better way of life their family.

I look forward to seeing the changes of the country as our journey into familiar territory unfolds over the course of the next few weeks.

Kristoffer Erickson

Jun 04 | The Journey Begins

By Kris Erickson

Finally the last of the bags are packed and we’re off. The pile of gear sitting in my living room is a small mountain comprised of four base camp duffels, one ski bag, my carry-on camera bag and a small messenger bag with personal travel items. That’s just my pile everyone else has similar loads. I have an idea how much the overweight baggage will cost but across the team it will be in the thousands of dollars to make this trip happen.

It always amazes me how much technology and gear I take on expeditions and this particular trip is one in which we have more than average. I have remote power systems to keep my laptop, digital cameras, sat phones and most important, my Ipod cranking away. Skis and climbing gear, stoves, sleeping bag, down suits, 8 lbs of jerky from my local butcher in Livingston, peanut butter and all sorts of other comfort foods to satiate me over the course of the expedition.

The start of the trip represents an exciting time and one of sadness as we embark on a journey of a lifetime we also must say goodbye to those we love. We will be in Islamabad on the morning of the 6th and I look forward to going back to a place that had a profound impact on my youth as I was only 23 the last time I visited, It’s been eleven years and the country is a very different place today. Change is one element in life we can all expect but sometimes it happens for the worse. I hope for the people of Pakistan the recent government changes are for the best. Time will tell.  - Kris Erickson